A&T BECOMES LARGEST HBCU IN THE NATION

"Preliminary fall enrollment numbers indicate that North Carolina A&T State University has secured the largest enrollment of a historically black college and university (HBCU) in the nation.

N.C. A&T begins the academic year with approximately 10,734 students, up 173 from last year’s enrollment at the same time. According to news reports, Florida A&M University’s (FAMU) approximate fall enrollment is 10,231, down 504 from the previous year and Howard University’s approximate fall enrollment is 10,480, up 183. In previous years, FAMU led in enrollment of all HBCUs and Howard came in second.

“It shows that the strategies put in place to move us toward the fulfillment of A&T Preeminence 2020 are paying off,” said Akua Matherson, associate vice chancellor for enrollment management.

A&T Preeminence 2020 is the university’s strategic plan. One of the key metrics to measure success is a total enrollment of 13,500. To meet that mark, the university has to continue: recruiting right-fit students while becoming the institution of choice for more transfer students; generating significant growth in graduate enrollment; strengthening the research enterprise and research opportunities; and improving upon student retention rates.

This year, A&T posted a retention rate of 79 percent or 6,296 students.

“Continuous growth in enrollment ensures that we will continue to be a viable part of the economic engine and growth of the Triad,” Matherson said."

- A Press Release

Sports Hall of Fame announces new inductees

"Six of the seven 2014 North Carolina A&T Sports Hall of Fame inductees won at least one MEAC championship during their collegiate careers. The North Carolina A&T Sports Hall of Fame announced its new members on Thursday with five football players, one track and field athlete and one men’s basketball player earning the prestigious honor.

Football’s James Bowden, Darryl Klugh, Connell Maynor, Troy Pelshak, Barry Turner, track and field’s Shenan Robinson and men’s basketball James Sparrow will be announced as the new members on Thursday, Sept. 4 at the North Carolina A&T University Alumni-Foundation Event Center at 7 p.m. The media is invited to a press luncheon for the inductees at the event center at noon on Sept. 4. The honorees will also be recognized on Sept. 6 when the Aggies play their home opener against No. 7 Coastal Carolina at 6 p.m., at Aggie Stadium.

“On behalf of North Carolina A&T State University and the department of athletics, I want to congratulate the 2014 inductees,” said Earl M. Hilton III, A&T’s director of athletics. “We appreciate their commitment to their sport, university and community. Their individual accomplishments translated into team success, and that is the true sign of a Hall of Famer.”

Bowden played wide receiver for A&T from 1991-95. He made 94 receptions for 1,694 yards and nine touchdowns. He helped the Aggies win the 1992 MEAC championship and earn a playoff berth in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

Darryl Klugh is considered one of the best defensive backs in school history. He secured three different All-American honors during his career, including Division I-AA All-American accolades. In 1999 he led the MEAC in interceptions and was a first-team All-MEAC selection. The Aggies 1999 team also broke the school record for wins (11), won the MEAC championship and won the school’s first ever NCAA football playoff game. His younger brother Hasaan is a quarterback on the 2014 Aggies football team.

Maynor has continued to have success in football more than 20 years after his collegiate career ended. He led the Winston-Salem State Rams to the Division II national championship game in 2012, and he is the current head coach at Hampton University. Before his coaching career, Maynor established as one of the best all-around offensive players in school history.

Maynor won MEAC Offensive Player of the Year twice (1990 and ’91), becoming the first Aggie to win the award. He threw 18 touchdown passes and only five interceptions in 1991 as he led the Aggies to the MEAC title.

Pelshak was one of the most feared defensive players in the MEAC. He could play defensive end, defensive tackle and nose tackle. He made 52 tackles for loss in his career, including seven in one game.

Robinson was an outstanding athlete on the track. He competed in the 55 meters, 100, 400 meter relay, long jump and triple jump. He helped the Aggies win three consecutive outdoor MEAC championships (1994-96) and one indoor championship in 1996. He was named All-MEAC in the 55, 100 and long jump.

Many Aggie fans would argue that James Sparrow is the best men’s basketball player in school history. He led the team in scoring three straight seasons and during the 1975-76 season he led the team in scoring, assists and steals. He led the Aggies to three MEAC titles (1975, ‘76 and ‘78), and was the MEAC Player of the Year in ‘75 and ‘76. He has the best scoring average in school history at 18.8 points per game.

Turner’s 2,726 rushing yards is fourth all-time on the Aggies rushing list. He also made 92 receptions for 1,148 yards and nine touchdowns. He helped the Aggies win back-to-back MEAC titles in 1991 and ‘92.  He is one of only three players in school history with more than 4,000 all-purpose yards."

- A Press Release

A&T Signs Agreement to Commercialize Hypoallergenic Peanut

Dr. Jianmei Yu

"Hypoallergenic peanuts, peanut butter, and other peanut products are a step closer to grocery stores with the signing of an exclusive licensing agreement for the patented process that reduces allergens in peanuts by 98 percent.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University signed the agreement with Xemerge, a Toronto-based firm that commercializes emerging technologies in food, agriculture, and a variety of other fields. Xemerge has opened an office at the Gateway University Research Park south campus in Greensboro.

“This is one of the best technologies in the food and nutrition space we have seen,” said Johnny Rodrigues, Chief Commercialization Officer of Xemerge. 

“It checks all the boxes: non-GMO, patented, human clinical data, does not change physical characteristics of the peanut along with maintaining the nutrition and functionality needed, ready for industry integration from processing and manufacturing to consumer products.”

The process was developed by Dr. Jianmei Yu, a food and nutrition researcher in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, department of family and consumer sciences, and two former A&T faculty members, Dr. Mohamed Ahmedna and Dr. Ipek Goktepe, both of whom are now at Qatar University.

“Treated peanuts can be used as whole peanuts, in pieces or as flour to make foods containing peanuts safer for many people who are allergic,” Dr. Yu said.

“Treated peanuts also can be used in immunotherapy,” she said. “Under a doctor’s supervision, the hypoallergenic peanuts can build up a patient’s resistance to the allergens.”

Research funding was provided by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The process treats roasted peanuts, removed from the shell and skin, with food-grade enzymes commonly used in food processing. The treatment consists of soaking the peanuts in an enzymatic solution.

The treatment reduces two key allergens, Ara h 1 to undetectable levels and Ara h 2 by up to 98%. The resulting peanuts look and taste like roasted peanuts. The peanuts are not genetically modified.

The effectiveness of the process was demonstrated in human clinical trials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, using skin-prick tests.

In contrast to various other approaches to eliminating peanut allergens, the N.C. A&T process doesn’t involve chemicals or irradiation, and uses commonly available food-processing equipment.

In collaboration with Xemerge, Dr. Yu is continuing to refine the process by testing the effectiveness of additional food-grade enzymes.

Peanuts cause serious allergic reactions in an estimated 0.9% of the U.S. population, about 2.8 million people. Highly sensitive children and adults can develop anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction, in as little as a few seconds from ingesting extremely small amounts. Anaphylaxis symptoms can include difficulty breathing; low blood pressure; swelling of the tongue, eyes or face; stomach pain, nausea and vomiting; skin rashes, blisters, itching, inflammation, and pain; and in some cases even death.

Xemerge

Xemerge (pronounced “zee-merge”) specializes in helping early-stage and established companies achieve business milestones, including early customer acquisition (pilots/simulations), strategic channel development, company messaging and positioning.  The firm commercializes clients’ intellectual capital and products by implementing repeatable and measurable approaches to media, management, and collaboration.

Xemerge collaborates with technology transfer offices of research labs and universities to aggressively push technology into the marketplace. The firm helps faculty researchers turn inventions into products and in many cases serves as the supportive management team to lead a start-up company into a commercial entity.

http://www.xemerge.com/

North Carolina A&T State University

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is a doctoral research university, located in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is a constituent member of the University of North Carolina system. The university’s history as an 1890 land-grant university is reflected in its strengths in agriculture, animal science, engineering, and environmental science.

The development of the hypoallergenic peanut is the latest example of A&T’s research strengths in food safety, value-added food processing, and post-harvest technologies emerging from its School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.

A&T research news appears first on the Aggie Research blog (aggieresearch.wordpress.com) and Twitter (@AggieResearch).

research.ncat.edu"

A Press Release

A&T PROFESSOR’S RESEARCH INTO COPD WINS PRESTIGIOUS SUPPORT

"GREENSBORO, N.C. -Dr. Jenora Waterman has made one key discovery toward improving the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among agricultural workers, and now she’s been accepted into a prestigious career development program to advance her research.       

Dr. Waterman is an assistant professor of functional genomics in the Department of Animal Sciences at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. COPD is a major cause of death in the United States, most typically found among smokers.  A less studied aspect of the disease is the 7% of its U.S. victims who are agricultural workers. They can develop COPD as a result of long-term exposure to animal production facilities containing dust that contributes to respiratory diseases.

High-density swine production houses are one example of such facilities.

Dr. Waterman’s first key finding came from comparing pigs raised indoors with those raised outdoors. Pigs aren’t as severely affected by the dust as humans are, but her work demonstrated that their respiratory systems are uniquely adapted to their housing type.

“My lab recently showed for the first time that pigs reared indoors and those raised outdoors exhibit structural and cellular differences in their respiratory systems,” Dr. Waterman says.

“The next step will be studying those differences to identify potential biomarkers that could serve as diagnostic or prognostic markers of agriculture-related COPD in humans.”

Dr. Waterman will take that step as an NC TraCS K-Scholar, a professional development honor for junior faculty members funded through the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program of the National Institutes of Health.

She will receive funding for her research and mentored training for three years. Two faculty members from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will serve as mentors, Dr. Claire Doerschuk, a medical doctor and pathologist, and Dr. Lee Graves, a pharmacologist.

The scholars program is designed to train younger investigators in a dramatically new approach to research. It’s based on interdisciplinary teamwork, because the traditional single-discipline focus isn’t well suited to attacking complex biomedical problems or to putting new discoveries into practice as quickly as possible.  And it’s translational – work that seeks to improve the health of the population by transforming discoveries from laboratory into clinical practice in community and health policy.

N.C. A&T is a partner in the CTSA grant won by UNC-CH last fall. Dr. Waterman’s grant is funded through the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute, the integrated home of the CTSA program at UNC-CH. 

The goal of NC TraCS is to accelerate the translation of clinical research results into the treatment of disease.

Dr. Waterman is the director of the Respiratory Biology and Toxicology Laboratory at A&T. Her interests include respiratory cell biology, environmental toxicology, and cellular pathology.  Her research focuses on the extent of environmental and functional genomic/proteomic influences on the pathophysiology of agriculture-related respiratory diseases.

She is an affiliated faculty member of the A&T bioengineering program and a contributing faculty member of the doctoral program in energy and environmental systems. Dr. Waterman was named the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Outstanding Junior Researcher this year and research Rookie of the Year in 2011. She serves as a member of the N.C. A&T Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and the Institutional Biosafety Committee. 

Dr. Waterman is a native of Los Angeles. She was a United Negro College Fund Scholar at Bennett College, where she earned her B.S. degree in biology, magna cum laude. She taught at Page Senior High School in Greensboro before receiving her master’s in biology from N.C. A&T. Her Ph.D. in functional genomics is from N.C. State University."

A Press Release